Backpacker murder witness in Darwin for trial

The girlfriend of the missing Huddersfield backpacker Peter Falconio arrived in Darwin's international airport in the Northern Territory of Australia yesterday to give evidence against the man accused of killing her partner on a remote stretch of desert highway four years ago.

Joanne Lees, 32, now a travel agent from Brighton, is the main prosecution witness in the trial of Bradley Murdoch, a 47-year-old mechanic charged with murder, assault and false imprisonment. Murdoch is accused of flagging down the couple on the Stuart Highway, 160 miles north of Alice Springs, on the premise that sparks were flying from their camper van's exhaust.

According to the prosecution, Murdoch lured Falconio to the back of the van and shot him before dragging Ms Lees from the passenger seat and tying her up. She escaped and ran into the desert, evading her assailant's attempts to find her. The trial, which will be among the most closely watched in Australian history, begins at Darwin's supreme court on Monday and is scheduled to last six weeks.

Other witnesses will include Falconio's brother Paul. The body of Falconio has never been found.

An agreement was struck with the media for a handful of journalists to meet Ms Lees at the airport, to avoid a repetition of scenes at a preliminary hearing last year when she was pursued around Darwin by photographers in a series of car chases.